What They Never Say
by DramaticBear
Summary: Part I. Baseball has always been Amamori Nao's number one love, but as she grows older and struggles with conflict, experiencing the unfairness of life, she finds herself reducing it to nothing more than a crutch. Whoever said high school was the best time of a teenager's life lied horribly. One-sided OCxAbe. Manga-based, post-season two of the anime; contains spoilers.
1. Day One

**What They Never Say **

**Disclaimer:** I only own the storyline and the OCs that show up. Everything and everyone familiar belongs to Higuchi Asa. The views and opinions presented herein are not necessarily aligned with my own.

**Notes:** I've had this idea buzzing around my head for a while, now, so I hope I manage to execute it properly. If anything seems inaccurate in description or if any of the characters start veering into OOC territory, don't hesitate to yell or throw something at me so I can fix it! All comments are welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to check this fic out.

Oh—and a few, tiny minor details, like dialogue lines, have been changed to fit the fic since I wrote most of this chapter before catching up to chapter 96, but it's nothing that majorly alters anything.

* * *

**Part I**

**Summer Arc**

**Amamori Nao**

* * *

**One—Day One**

Nao rubbed at her eyes with a weary grumble as she carefully hoisted her duffel bag onto a nearby seat and glanced around the bustling Narita International Airport.

What time was it supposed to be…? It was such a jump from overseas that she couldn't be sure—but at the very least, she'd been certain it was nighttime when she departed from the American East Coast. Now, it was daytime, but quite a few hours later. Her half-lidded eyes wandered lazily across the walls until she located a clock. It was barely past three in the afternoon.

Jet lag was something she would never get used to, no matter how many times she traveled between the two continents.

She reached into her bag and fished out her phone, brightening the screen to see if her friends had responded to her messages yet. Nada. Well, that was to be expected. Baseball season was already in full swing, so she doubted there was much free time to check inboxes. The quickest way to get a response was to call directly.

The line rang two, three, four times before a voice finally greeted her on the other end.

"_Yo. Did you finally touch ground, Amamori?_"

He didn't sound worn out in the least even though he'd probably caught her call in-between training exercises, but given his personality, he wouldn't show it even if he _was_ tired.

"Yep. Home at last. Not interrupting your training, am I?"

"_Nope. I can spare a few minutes._"

Devil-may-care as ever, Nao noted. A small smirk pulled at her lips. "I see. So, when's your next match?" Musashino Dai-Ichi was still participating in the prefectural tournament, after all.

"_Don't worry. I'll text you._"

"You better, Haru. I wanna see at least _one_ of you play…"

The southpaw's small chuckle of amusement met her ears. _"Still mad about that?_"

"Yeah! I didn't know a thing about_ his_ team's progress until you told me. Not to mention what happened in the match against Bijou…I can't believe he would keep something like that quiet!" He could probably sense her pout through the phone. The way she crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks when she was upset had become an icon back in the day. "You're way better with keeping your friends updated."

"_I have a feeling I would pay for it if I didn't._"

"Damn right," the girl grinned. "Anyways, I'm gonna head over to see him now, so I'll let you go. Beat 'em good, okay, Haru?"

"_I don't need you to tell me that._" The smirk in his voice was practically tangible. "_See you around, Amamori_."

Once her friend hung up, Nao put her phone to sleep and slowly moved to her feet with a grand, exaggerated stretch. It wasn't always so easy to talk casually with Haruna Motoki—if his team hadn't been doing so well in the tournament, she was sure it would be a nightmare to handle him. He probably wouldn't even answer her messages. He was finicky like that, but she was used to it.

More importantly, however, was the matter concerning her childhood friend. He'd been participating in the prefectural tournament up until the fifth round, and she hadn't heard a peep from him about it. Not to mention he'd received a knee injury… The mere thought of it made her mouth go dry. Things like that were a big deal. She didn't like being kept in the dark when crucial events concerning her friends occurred.

While she left the airport and headed towards the railway station, she fished out her phone again and stared at the unanswered text she'd sent to Abe Takaya a few hours earlier.

_You have a lot of explaining to do._

No subject, just a single line of text. It wasn't uncommon that he ignored her messages, but she attributed that to him being preoccupied with training. Now, she was _sure_ he was ignoring her just to ignore her.

Nao frowned and bit the inside of her lip, wondering if she should add a quick follow-up, if only to provoke him into responding.

…If only things were that easy. Even before she'd moved overseas a little over two years ago, he rarely responded to her calls and messages. It wasn't like she'd expected a reply this time.

Plus, it kind of hurt that he never thought to contact her during that entire time, even though she'd pushed him into promising he would. Was eight years of friendship really that weak? That was practically half of her entire life!

_I'm coming to see you_

Nao stared at the message she'd composed, finger hovering over the "send" key longer than necessary. In the end, she deleted the text and put her phone away. "It's harder than I thought…" She sighed, leaning against a pillar as she awaited the train that would take her to Saitama. She had plenty of time to think it through on the way there—maybe she could gather her resolve by then.

And if not, she could always visit him tomorrow. It would probably be best to just catch a few hours of sleep at her relative's house and readjust to the time zone right now anyways.

But…

This visit wasn't something she wanted to put off for too long. A knee injury was a big deal for someone like him, whose position required him to use them for the majority of the time. It wasn't like she thought she could help in any way, since it was already done and only time would heal it, but she wanted to make sure, at the very least, that he didn't push himself. That he didn't try to jump back in too soon…

Her hands clenched loosely into fists.

'_It's a serious thing,'_

She had quite a bit to discuss with him, but at the same time, she wasn't sure what she would even say.

Two years had passed. Things had changed. What if he didn't want to hear what she had to say? What if he didn't want to talk…? It wasn't uncommon that childhood friends broke away from each other when they got older…

She continued to debate with herself back and forth like this during the entire ride to her home prefecture.

Once she'd finally arrived in her hometown, Nao was unable to carry out her planned visit to her childhood friend, though she _had_ made it all the way to his house before losing her nerve.

At the very least, it was lucky that her relative's home was only a few blocks away.

It seemed her aunt wasn't home.

She made her way to the kitchen and glanced over the note left on the table.

_Nacchan, _

_So sorry I couldn't be here to greet you! I got called in to work suddenly to help sort some things out. I won't be back until later tonight. There are leftovers in fridge._

_Don't wait up! Just get some rest, it was a long trip, right?_

_Miyo_

"Nice 'welcome-home'…" Nao muttered, heading towards the guest room. It wasn't hard to figure out which one it was, since her aunt lived alone in a two-bedroom house. She dumped out her duffel bag and began sorting through the contents.

She'd been so headstrong in rushing halfway across the world on the soonest red-eye flight that she hadn't had time to pack up everything she needed—but her mother assured her she would send over the rest of her luggage within the week. As it was, all Nao had grabbed was her cellphone, laptop, toiletries, and a few changes of clothes, along with pajamas. There was also a rather large, paper-stuffed binder with the name of a local high school scrawled across the front.

There really hadn't been a reason to rush, she conceded—especially when she backed down.

_He_ was the reason she'd hurried back to her home country, but she couldn't even work up the courage to confront him…

At a loss, she fell back onto the tatami mats and sighed.

Before she knew it, the warm summer afternoon enveloped her in slumber.


	2. Day Two

**Two—Day Two**

**Morning**

Nao awoke to the sound of pots and dishes being clanked around in the kitchen. The room was dimly lit—she wasn't quite sure where she was during those few, brief disorienting moments of post-slumber, but when her current situation dawned on her, she immediately shot to her feet and stumbled towards the hallway to greet her aunt.

"Oh, great, you're finally awa—_pfff, ahahaha!_" The woman had turned to face her niece when she heard footsteps approaching, but the moment she did, she was forced to do a double-take before bursting into loud, obnoxious laughter. "Your—_your face!_" The woman managed to stammer out inelegantly, pointing a wooden spoon towards Nao.

Nao blinked her bleary eyes owlishly, mouth hanging open, as she watched her aunt's laughing fit with no humor whatsoever. She slowly raised a hand to her cheek, noting that it felt stiff, and froze when she felt a nasty, goopy patch of drool there. She quickly rubbed at it with her sleeve in an attempt to clear it away. "G-_gross! _Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Aaah, Nacchan you're hilarious! I haven't seen such an awful morning face since I lived with your dad!" The woman approached her, grinning widely, and helped the girl straighten her hair, still mumbling about bad tatami-marks and gnarly bedhead. Nao allowed her to fuss over her messy appearance, not even complaining when she took a washrag to her face.

Amamori Miyo stepped back and whistled in amusement as she regarded her young niece. "You really conked out when you got here, huh? Didn't even put out the futon…Looks like you slept well, though~." She observed cheekily.

"I did. I'm glad to be back." Nao smiled tiredly. "What's for breakfast?"

Miyo hummed, and scratched at her close-cropped black hair. "It's not ready yet. Tell you what—go take a bath first, and it should be ready to eat by the time you're done."

Nao nodded without a word and made her way towards the bathroom. She'd fallen asleep before getting anything done the day before, so there was no way she would complain about that suggestion.

She couldn't help but smile. Even though they didn't see each other often, it was always enjoyable being around her aunt. For one, she didn't act much like an aunt—she was more like a cool, doting older sister. Maybe it was just that she was immature…

Once she finished with her bath, Nao returned to the kitchen. What greeted her at the dining room table was an unexpected sight.

"_Uwah_—what is that?" She grimaced, eyeing the poorly-made meal with fear. She was suddenly glad she hadn't looked at the previous night's leftovers.

Miyo clicked her tongue. "It tastes better than it looks, trust me. I just started cooking for myself recently…don't make me feel bad, now."

Nao sighed. "…Right. Thanks for the food…" _I guess._

What her aunt deemed as "breakfast" looked like it was meant to be some type of fish fillet, but in all honesty, she wasn't sure what she was eating. The texture was…_weird._ At the very least, she trusted it was edible, so she kept her miserable complaints to herself.

"So, what school did your parents decide on? It's a pretty strange time to transfer in. Didn't you just finish middle school a month ago?" Miyo questioned, not looking troubled in the least while eating her abomination of a meal.

Nao poured a considerable amount of condiments over her serving before replying. "I did. Mom made some negotiations, so if I can catch up on all of what I missed during the first term, and pass an exam this summer, I can attend normally in the fall."

"I see, I see. What school?" She repeated, smiling.

Nao pursed her lips. Her parents wanted her to attend an all-girl's high school since her middle school had been that way, but once she decided to come back to her homeland, her plans had changed drastically. "Nishiura." It had taken a lot of convincing, but eventually she'd managed to get her parents to agree.

"Ah, that one's nearby! Good, you can take my bike there. Always better to save on transportation fees…" Miyo chewed thoughtfully. "You still have a while until September, though. Just how much do you have to study?"

"Not much. I'm about halfway through the material."

"Good! Smart girl! Ah, I wish I'd finished high school… I really liked the uniform…" She snickered. "The _boy's_ uniform, that is. So hot~. Say, did I ever tell you about when Watanabe-kun was my boyfriend?"

Nao nearly choked. "N-no! please don't!" She frowned, expression grim. Sometimes, Nao thought, her aunt forgot she was just a teenager whose ears were still too innocent for the kinds of information she shared.

"Ah~? Don't tell me, Nacchan, you still haven't got a boyfriend?" The woman sighed dramatically. "But what about what's-his-face—the Abe's kid? Aren't you two close—"

Nao quickly shoveled the rest of her food into her mouth and jumped to her feet. "I have something to do downtown! See you later, Auntie!" Without wasting a moment, she rushed out of the house.

Her aunt watched her go, still chewing, and puffed her cheeks out in a way reminiscent of the younger girl. "Jeez…it used to be so cute when she called me 'Miyo-chan'…"

* * *

Nao breathed a sigh of relief, slowing her pace once she'd rounded the corner.

Thanks to that woman and her stories, she already knew plenty more about sex and romance than she'd ever wished…and it only got worse when she questioned her about her _own_ love life...

She reached into her back pocket, thankful that her phone was on her person before she'd made her escape.

There was still no response from Abe.

"Hmm…_jerk_," the girl grumbled. Her gaze wandered towards the street that would take her to her childhood friend's house, but she still couldn't quite push herself to walk in that direction.

* * *

**Afternoon**

"Aah, it's so hot…" Nao griped, shielding her eyes from the sun as she glanced around and endured being jostled about by the crowd.

Waiting for the rest of her luggage was only going to be a pain, so she'd taken it upon herself to visit the local shops and buy what she needed. Three shopping bags already hung from her arms.

Nao was on her way back to the train station before her phone chirped, signaling a received text. She ducked into a nearby park and glanced down at the message eagerly, holding her breath at the possibility that it was from Abe—

_How did it go?_

—It was from Haruna.

Nao exhaled quietly, feeling a little disappointed, but then brushed it off and typed out a reply, taking a few extra moments to think of how exactly to word her failure. In the end, she settled for:

_Nao: I chickened out. _

_Haruna: Ha, seriously? __You don't usually hesitate._

_Nao: I know. I'm a coward._

Nao clicked her tongue as she sent the reply. Seeing it in words just drove it home even further_. 'I'm so dumb,'_ she mentally berated.

She took a seat on a nearby bench and brought out a new baseball from one of her shopping bags, examining it idly and turning it this way and that before tossing it up lightly with her left hand as she awaited his reply.

_Haruna: Hey, I have some free time. __Let's meet up._

_Nao: Where?_

They spent the next few minutes determining a meeting spot, bickering over how one place was too far, another was too inconvenient, how one was in the middle of nowhere, and whether or not they should even meet up at all since they were having so many problems deciding. At some point, Nao had managed to get the conversation back on the track of baseball, nagging about when he would tell her about an upcoming match, and so on.

After an hour of this back-and-forth, they finally met up face-to-face at a small café.

"Now I remember why I never liked going anywhere with you before…" Nao complained as she spotted her familiar friend. He hadn't changed much since the last time she'd laid eyes on him. If anything, he'd only gotten taller—but he always was taller than her. She wondered briefly if Abe would still look the same, too…

"Don't blame me. You're the one who's like a naggy girlfriend. Minus the girlfriend part," Haruna scoffed, eyeing the girl with a frown as he sat down across from her.

"Like you would know what that's even like." She scoffed back, watching his face redden.

"Sh-shut up!"

"Besides, you're the one who suggested it."

It was also easy to recognize her—attitude aside. She'd changed, but only subtly; she still wore her long, dark hair in a ponytail, and she'd only gotten a few centimeters taller. The childish, round face he remembered was no more; the chubbiness had been replaced by soft angles and characteristic features that reminded him she was only half-Japanese.

She was clearly no longer the hotheaded, pouting child he remembered.

…But her chest hadn't gotten any bigger. And she was still a rough tomboy. Was it too much to ask for a _pretty_ friend?

Nao's cheeks puffed out as she crossed her arms in a familiar gesture—and for a moment, Haruna thought he'd been caught staring, but when she spoke he found out this wasn't the case. "Did you have a game today, Haru…?"

The dark-haired pitcher smirked. "Didn't I tell you I'd text you when? Put a little more faith in your senpai, Amamori."

The girl's eyebrows shot up. "_'Senpai?_' If you think I'm going to call you that, you're dead wrong. And if you keep dodging the question, I'll start to think you're unreliable."

He sighed and shook his head in mock-defeat. At times, she could be as disrespectful as his former catcher. Never once had he managed to get her to call him 'senpai.' "…How about you come watch when we make it to Koushien?"

"'When?' You sure sound certain. Your team must be pretty strong." She hummed.

"What did you expect?" He shot back with a cocky grin. "I'm the pitcher, after all."

"Right. Why would I ever think otherwise? I'll be there." Nao dismissed with a small smirk, rolling her eyes at his typical display of egomania, before glancing down at the menu that was set in front of her on the table and mumbling about what she should eat and how she missed homeland cuisine.

The atmosphere was casual, and comfortable. If anyone could transition so smoothly from reuniting with a friend after two years of sporadic calls and text messages from between two different countries, it was this girl. He wasn't sure if she was just dense or _that_ good at making up for lost ground. It was like no time had passed at all.

But…it had. And so much had happened.

Not only did he have his own issues to work through at the time, but…

Haruna eyed the girl's right hand and a slightly troubled expression overtook his face. He rubbed the back of his neck before speaking, a little unsure. "Amamori…isn't it…you know, a little hard to watch games now?"

She didn't act like anything was wrong—even though she was open about quite a few things, and usually willing to listen, she never spoke much about her own troubles. He always figured it was because he was a guy and that she probably had a girl friend or two that she chattered about those things with (or that she just bothered Abe with it).

Nao looked up and met his gaze, following it towards her dominant hand. "Oh, this." She raised it up and observed her wrist with an unreadable expression. "It…doesn't matter."

"…Let me see." She held out her arm and he grasped her wrist, noticing immediately that the bones near the joint felt different than what was normal. "How far can you move it?"

"Try."

He rotated her hand, noting the resistance that kept it from turning fully. There was no way she could properly bat, much less _throw_, with that condition.

Just then, the waitress popped up at their table, and he quickly released the girl's wrist.

Nao snickered and hid her mouth behind her hand, realizing he probably didn't want people to think they were dating.

The situation had come up before, after all, and they both vehemently denied such an affiliation. In his exact words, she could recall, his reasoning was that "he could never date a girl who had the same name as his sister*." For her, on the other hand, it was simply that he wasn't her type. He was more like a mentor, if anything more than a friend; someone she trusted to talk with about baseball and—at times—their mutual acquaintance, Abe.

Back when she played during her younger years, she'd even asked him for batting pointers.

In other words, even _thinking_ about dating Haruna would be really weird and uncomfortable.

Once the waitress had their orders, they returned to the subject at hand.

"…Did you tell him about it yet?" Haruna questioned, picking idly at a spot on the table's surface.

Nao stiffened up. "_No._"

The pitcher looked up, shocked by her tone.

"I won't tell him." She shifted her gaze away, towards the window. "I don't want Takaya to know, Haruna."

…And here she was, worrying so much over her childhood friend's injury and the way he'd kept it from her.

Haruna grinned at her rare usage of his full surname. With such a harsh tone, too! "You're a hypocrite, Amamori." It wasn't like he would tell Abe about it, anyways.

His accusation caused her to relax. "I know…"

The one thing she liked most about her older friend was that he never pushed the issue. He hadn't even teased her over her failure to visit Abe the previous day. But, the two never did get along well because they were on different wavelengths…it was only natural that he didn't care all that much when it concerned his former catcher.

Nao figured that, if they just made an effort to understand each other, they could put aside their differences and past discrepancies. _Maybe..._

The rest of their conversation drifted off towards small talk and what each of them had done over the past two years, updating each other on what hadn't been included through the phone.

Once they'd paid and prepared to leave, something caught Haruna's eye. "Is that-?" He reached into one of Nao's shopping bags and withdrew the brand new baseball, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Nao quickly reached for it, but he held it out of her range and she instead looked away in a futile attempt to hide her reddened cheeks.

"…You haven't given up, huh?" He observed knowingly.

"I…" Nao froze, eyes flitting from left to right as she tried to come up with an excuse. It was no use. She was a poor liar. In the end, she settled for pushing past him and hurrying out of the café.

It was rare to see her so out of sorts.

Haruna followed after, smirking, and found her standing just outside the door.

She looked towards him, mouth set in a thin line, eyes filled with determination. "I'm _not_ giving up. I'm getting surgery done on it, soon. But," she continued, "I don't want anyone to know yet."

If she just went through with her surgery and let everything heal properly, it would be like nothing ever happened. She firmly believed that.

The pitcher returned the baseball and shrugged. "What a coincidence. I don't have anyone to tell it to."

With someone like her, it couldn't be any other way.

* * *

**Notes:** I'm pretty sure it was implied somewhere in the end of chapter 66 that a "Nao-chan" was Haruna's sister.


	3. Day Three

**Notes:** I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but thank you so much for your reviews! And as always, thanks for taking the time to read this story.

* * *

**Three—Day Three**

**Morning**

"Nacchan~. Where are you going?"

Nao froze as her aunt called her name just before she left the house. The woman poked her head out into the hallway and glanced curiously at her niece.

The girl sighed. "Don't you have some work to do or something?"

"_Geh—so cheeky!_" Miyo's face fell. She entered the hallway and approached Nao, grabbing her cheeks and stretching them out. "Talking back, though…I know I look young, but I _am _your elder!"

The black-haired girl swatted at her aunt's hands, but it was futile. She settled for glaring, instead.

"Have you gone to see the Abe family yet?"

Nao choked, and tried to speak, but it was difficult when her face was being stretched. Miyo released her grip and crossed her arms.

"No—why?"

"Misae-san called. Seems like Kris-chan told her you were here." Miyo shrugged.

Nao frowned. Her mom liked to meddle too much.

"I thought you might be going over there." Her aunt continued.

The girl shook her head and idly ran a hand through her bangs. "…Nope. I have remedial lessons."

"Seriously? Gross!" Miyo stuck out her tongue

"Yeah, but …I can't do lab assignments at home, after all." The girl mumbled, looking disgruntled. She just wanted to get them over with as soon as possible.

"True…Well, you can take my bike! It's on the side." Miyo offered, pointing in the direction she was speaking of and grinning brightly.

Nao nodded before heading out.

…_This_ was the bike her aunt was lending to her?

It was a rickety, grimy old thing that barely looked like it was holding itself together—no, she was sure there was duct tape holding it together in places, too. It looked like an _antique!_ The paint was chipping, the seat was peeling, and the basket looked like it would fall off at any second. It was _definitely _something she'd picked up in the trash pile and tried to restore on her own…

"Well…at least the tires are okay…" She grumbled, dumping her schoolbag into the basket (surprised, and a little impressed, that it didn't buckle under the weight) and wheeling it towards the street.

It held together, much to her surprise. Even when she clambered up onto the seat and began peddling away, it still held strong.

A few moments after Nao departed, Miyo burst through the front door, eyebrows knit together. "Crap…she's already gone. I forgot to mention the brakes suck…"

* * *

Again, after passing near the Abe home, Nao debated whether or not she should stop by and confront her friend. She decided to pass for the time being and instead made her way towards her future high school.

…Only, she wasn't exactly sure where that was.

Nao fished her phone out of her pocket and attempted to look up directions. "Tch, no signal? Now, really?" Her forehead dropped against the warm metal of the handlebars as she thought of how to handle her situation.

…It was hot. The _last_ thing she wanted to be doing on a scorching summer day like this was go to _school_. Why did the American and Japanese school systems have to differ so much…?

Well, it couldn't be _that_ far. There would definitely be a sign sooner or later, and at the very least, she knew the main street it was situated nearby.

With a sigh, she set off in the general direction of Nishiura.

Before that, she'd flipped through her inbox to see if Abe had replied yet. She was beginning to wonder if the message had even gone through—and again, thought to send a follow-up, but bowed out halfway through typing it.

'_Since when was I such a scaredy-cat…?'_

It annoyed her. It really annoyed her! Being wishy-washy wasn't like her. Most of the time, she did her best to be direct and clear up as many misunderstandings as possible. Not to mention, dealing with troublesome personalities was one of her specialties—she'd dealt with Haruna for a while, after all, among others.

If it had been _him_ that had gotten hurt, she wouldn't hesitate like this.

So, why was it so different when it came to someone she'd known much longer…?

"_It's so dumb,_" Nao griped loudly at the sky, before peddling as hard as she could.

The wind that whipped around her speeding form felt cool on her face. The spinning wheels, quick turns and sheer effort it took to pedal the old bicycle provided her a rush that she hadn't experienced since she was able to bat for her old coed baseball team.

A broad grin spread across her face. She missed it.

It had been near impossible to adjust to things overseas, especially when that was where she received her injury, but now that she was back on her home turf, she felt like she could conquer the world.

As she was racing by, a sign caught her eye—it looked like she was headed in the proper direction after all.

She squeezed on the brakes to slow her pace, and it took a moment to realize that she didn't feel the familiar resistance of the brakes being applied.

"Huh?" She squeezed the hand-brakes again, getting the same dead result. She kicked her feet backwards, checking to see if there were pedal brakes installed, and felt a cold sweat break out when nothing stopped. "What—faulty brakes?! You're kidding! They worked fine earlier!"

What was she supposed to do in this kind of situation!?

Nao quickly glanced ahead—and felt the blood drain from her face when she realized a downhill slope awaited her a little ways up the course. She continued squeezing the brakes, hoping they would catch in some miraculous feat.

Meanwhile, her front tire went over the top.

As she began descending, feeling dread roil in her stomach as the vehicle accelerated, a familiar face caught her eye.

Ascending the slope, just a few meters ahead, was her childhood friend—on a direct collision course with her runaway bicycle. She swiftly turned the front wheel, moving to the other side of the path, and continued applying pressure to the hand brakes, willing them to work since there was a guard rail that would deal a painful crash at the end of the slope.

A grimace overtook her face the moment she passed him by and their eyes met—she hoped to god he didn't recognize her, but his expression told her that he did.

'_Sheesh…how embarrassing! And sudden! This is way too sudden! I'm not ready to see him yet!'_

Caught off-guard by the turn of events, Nao clenched her eyes shut and instinctively stamped her feet onto the ground, praying she could apply enough force to slow down to a safe speed.

She felt the friction under her shoes, but it was hard to gain traction—there wasn't enough time to fully slow it down.

Making a split-second decision, she leaned her weight left and turned the front tire, tumbling to the ground when its balance was offset.

She took care to avoid landing on her hands or head, and took the brunt of the impact on her back instead. "Ow…owow…"

Luckily, the fall didn't leave any lasting pain. Nao moved to her knees, briefly checking herself over, before glancing sullenly towards her fallen bicycle and thrown school bag. Then—remembering her audience—she whipped her head around towards her childhood friend and the light-haired boy he was with.

Her jaw unhinged—she was at a loss.

Just what was she supposed to _say…?_

Wordless silence passed between them, although Abe's companion floundered around and stammered, seemingly unsure of how to respond to the situation. She didn't blame him.

"Are…are you okay?!" The panicky teenager was the first to speak.

Nao finally shut her mouth and pressed her lips into a thin line. She cast her gaze to the ground and nodded, feeling her cheeks redden. She'd caused such a scene! "I'm fine."

'_I'm so lame!'_

The sound of a bicycle approaching drew her attention, and she quickly glanced upwards to see Abe. It struck her as odd that he was on a bike when his knee was injured, but then again, she supposed that's what his friend was there for. Or—now that she looked closer, he wore a baseball uniform. Rather than _friend_ (he always seemed to have trouble making those), it seemed he was a teammate.

There were so many things she wanted to say, but at the sight of Abe's disgruntled expression, her courage crumbled.

'_I'm officially an idiot,'_ she berated herself, feeling her cheeks puff out ever-so-slightly as she regarded her friend with a troubled expression. '_Why is he glaring?! Why isn't he saying anything?' _A cold sweat erupted across her skin.

The other boy continued to fret.

Nao sighed, breaking eye contact, and slowly rose to her feet, dusting herself off, doing whatever she could to avoid looking at the dark-haired boy. "Sorry about that. The…the brakes—" She wasn't sure why she was _apologizing,_ but he interrupted her anyways.

"Amamori?" His tone was incredulous, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. But once he was certain the girl was indeed standing before him, he frowned. "It _is_ you."

Well, it wasn't that much of a shock. Only _she_ could act so unfazed after being thrown from a bicycle.

"Huh?" Nao replied, glancing back towards him automatically, eyes narrowed a fraction. "Yeah, it's _me_. Jeez, Takaya, you say it like you don't even recognize me…"

Abe scoffed. "Well, it has been two years. Change is expected." He pointed out straightforwardly. Though, that reckless nature of hers hadn't changed at all.

"I haven't changed_ that _much!" She seethed, all former worries—aside from his injury—forgotten. Although, if she harangued him about his knee after nearly dealing damage to herself, the situation would only become awkward. She put that on the back-burner for now, and instead focused on their impromptu reunion.

"I thought Mom was kidding when she said you came back." Abe continued.

Nao scoffed in return. "Kidding…? Why? Is it that hard to believe?"

"I guess it would be too good to be true for you to stay away longer…"

"That's rude, Takaya…!"

"U-um…" The bickering ceased, and both heads turned towards the other teenager, who had been glancing between them during their heated exchange. Their glares were still set in place, so now he was the target. He shrank under double the fierce stares than what he was used to, but continued to speak in that quiet, halting manner of his regardless. "You…you…know Abe-kun….?"

Nao's scowl softened as she took notice of the meek boy, finally registering that he'd indeed been there the whole time. Seeing something like this must be pretty shocking, she thought. He looked like a bird that wanted nothing more than to fly away.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Abe beat her to it. "Yeah. We were neighbors, growing up."

"Just neighbors…?" Nao mumbled, raising an eyebrow. "We're childhood friends." She corrected, looking towards the messy-haired boy again. When he caught her gaze, he quickly glanced away with an odd expression. '_Uwah, he's so timid…strange one, isn't he?'_

Abe sighed and closed his eyes to keep from rolling them skyward in response to the girl's strange—and annoying—ability to bounce back so quickly. "Look, she's fine—we've already lost time, so let's get going, Mihashi."

"O-okay."

'_Oho? Not even an introduction?'_ Amamori pouted, sending her friend a disapproving glance. '_And what do you mean "lost time?" Am I just a waste of time?'_

She watched as the fluffy-haired boy—Mihashi?—returned to the back of Abe's bike and began pushing him up the hill.

Nao waited until they reached the top to call out to them. She waved her hand and grinned cheekily. "Hey! …Fluffy-hair!" She wasn't sure if he would realize she was talking to him, but then the nervous boy cast an alarmed gaze over his shoulder. "Thanks for the concern! And Takaya—start answering my texts, okay?"

She was pretty sure she could see a blood vessel throb on the back of her friend's head, but he otherwise ignored her.

After they were out of sight, she jogged towards her aunt's bicycle and picked it up, checking for damage.

…It was hard to say what was new and what had already been present on the worn item. She checked the brakes again, and was relieved to find that they'd started working again.

…And it only occurred to her another two minutes later that she should have asked them for proper direction to Nishiura.


	4. Day Three: Afternoon

**Notes: **Aaah, I should be working on a research project right now but I'm just procrastinating…and it's really early in the morning...which means you readers get this chapter! As always, thanks for reading and/or reviewing.

Nao's personality gets expanded on a little here. And another OC is introduced!

* * *

**Four—Day Three **

**Afternoon  
**

The more Nao thought about it, the more her abrupt meeting with Abe got on her nerves.

'_That guy…he's as prickly as ever!' _She thought, scowling at the back of her biology teacher's head as he scrawled something on the chalk board and began going over instructions for the assignment. It wouldn't work out if she was the only one there, since labs required partners—there were three other students attending the remedial lessons along with her. She'd already covered the basic material for this lesson, so all she had to do was worry about the practical application.

'_He didn't even say hello…and he _still_ hasn't answered my text.' _ She chewed on her lower lip, eyes narrowing further. '_Seriously…you'd think we hadn't known each other for so long. I mean—he was probably busy and all, but he didn't even say "Hey! Long time no see!" or "I'll catch up with you later!" Or something! Such a bad personality…'_

She spun her pencil idly in her hand, and only when it fell and clattered to the table did she realize that the teacher had left and one of her classmates was standing in front of her.

"Huh?" Nao asked, glancing plainly up at the girl.

The girl recoiled slightly at Nao's harsh tone, and her fingers gripped her notebook a little tighter. "Um…we need ta partner up. The others already have."

"Oh…okay. Sure." She mumbled, thrown by the girl's strange accent. Was it...a_ country_ accent? Maybe she wasn't from around the area.

'_And I have to be stuck in these lessons for the next few days with these kinds of people…'_ Nao griped mentally as she moved towards the lab tables with her classmate. The girl was shorter than her, and had medium-length brown hair pulled back at the sides with tiny ribbons. She was a little clumsy—when she moved the microscope and other equipment, she did so with loud, clunky noises and shaking hands.

Finally, everything was set up—and Nao had made her partner do the most of it.

Nao raised an eyebrow, catching how the girl glanced at her briefly from time to time.

"Problem?" She asked coolly, carefully setting a slide into the microscope. Their assignment was to observe different cell structures, sketch them out and record their findings. Nothing difficult.

"Oh, I uh, forgot ta introduce myself. Name's Uchida Junko." She laughed a little, looking embarrassed. "And…you? Haven't seen you 'round, before."

Nao briefly looked up—something about the name struck her as familiar. But she quickly dismissed it when she couldn't recall where she'd heard the name and returned to the assignment. "It's because I'm a transfer student." She supplied bluntly, staring into the eyepiece and adjusting it until the image below was clear. Almost as an afterthought, she gave her own name. "Amamori Nao."

"Transfer? Oh? From where?" Junko grinned, showing interest.

"America."

"A-ah? But you look Japanese—were you born overseas?"

Nao sighed. Even after attending an all-girls school, she just couldn't get the hang of talking to...them.

When she continued to play baseball with a coed team overseas it was fine, because there was common ground and not much chit-chat involved, but in the classrooms…it was another story. She was used to hanging out with _guys_, and the conversational material was always different when another gender was concerned. It was easier to be thoughtless and even a little mean with males, but when it came to treating girls the same way, she found that most of the time, their feelings were more fragile. And that they held grudges over the tiniest things.

Maybe it was just because they were on different pages, but she'd since learned to keep girls of her own age and gender at arms-length, and be as direct with them as possible, even if it came off as cold.

Junko reacted with alarm to her partner's blatant show of annoyance. Her cheeks turned red, and she held her hands up to her chest, fiddling with the bow at her collar nervously.

"Here. I'm done with the first slide." Nao moved her chair aside so the girl could use the equipment. She then began to doodle in her notebook, recording what she'd seen, and was so caught up in the mindless task that her partner's sudden, abrupt laughter nearly caused her to jump out of her skin.

But when Nao's wide eyes shot towards her, the girl clammed up, face turning grim. "I'm—I'm _so sorry!_ Didn't mean ta scare you! I's just…" she pointed towards the girl's notebook, and her lips twitched before she clamped them together to keep from bursting into laughter again. "Your…_your drawings…!_"

"What?!" Her dark eyebrows had shot up into her hairline as she glanced between the strange girl and her own assignment. "What about it?!"

"They're…" Junko had to bite her lip again. Her face was turning completely red. "_They're so…_bad!"

Nao's jaw dropped. "_They're not that bad!_" She defended, holding her notebook up and pushing it towards the girl, feeling offended. "Look, it's just what was on the slide, okay? See? Everything is in the right place!" Her cheeks colored as she furrowed her brow.

Now, seeing the picture again, the girl was forced to bury her face in her arms to stifle her laughter.

'_What's with this hick girl?'_ Nao seethed, watching helplessly. She reached for the girl's own assignment and narrowed her eyes indignantly when she spotted her sketch. "You! Yours are just as bad. What are you playing at?" She glanced over her shoulder, checking to see if the other two students were paying attention and if they could provide an answer, but they were too busy checking their phones or listening to music to notice.

"U—Uchida-san…!" Nao hissed, pushing the girl lightly with her elbow in an attempt to clam her up. "Shut up! It's not _that_ funny!"

Finally, the brunette glanced up, eyes lined with moisture from her hysterical fit. "Sorry, sorry! It is! It _really_ is!"

"Tch… Like I said, yours aren't any better, you know!" Nao pouted, looking away.

"Ah…you ain't all that scary after all, Amamori-san." The girl commented lightly, rubbing at her eyes as she sighed, coming down from her hysterical high. "I was a li'l worried."

"Wh—" Nao opened her mouth to protest, but slowly shut it. She hadn't been able to act so carefree with another girl in...a long time. A really long time. "Of course I'm not."

"But, you had such a scary look on your face when you came in…and you were glarin' at Sensei real bad…"

"Was I?" Nao replied in disbelief, smiling obliviously.

"Yeah, yeah!"

After the ice had been broken, the two girls got along comfortably. They completed the assignment with little trouble and chatted with each other for the remainder of the time.

Once the lesson had broken up, and Junko was forced to remain behind for the remainder of her lessons, Nao returned home (_walking _her aunt's unreliable bike home, instead of riding it to her doom), feeling completely satisfied that she'd made a new, _female_ friend.

But when she was left to herself, her thoughts wandered back to Abe.

She fished her phone out of her pocket and leered at the screen, noting that once again, her text went unanswered. She took a deep breath and steeled herself before typing a follow-up.

_Nao: I can't believe you just left like that. SO rude! _

_Without even introducing me to your teammate._

She only had to wait a few minutes before he actually, _finally_ responded.

_Abe: Like I could help it. _

_I'm in a training camp right now._

Nao's cheeks puffed. Was that supposed to be his way of telling her to buzz off?

_Nao: Like I said, you have a lot of explaining to do. _

_Are you going to have any free time soon?_

_Abe: It lasts all week. _

_Nao: I see. _

It didn't look like she would be seeing him again anytime soon. She fidgeted, wondering if she should jump straight to the point or just continue small talk. The latter won out in the end.

_Nao: So, who was that teammate? _

_The shy one. Mi…Mihashi, I think?_

Nao fiddled with the keys, wondering if she spelled his name right.

_Abe: Yeah. The pitcher. What about him?_

_Nao: Pitcher? Is he really?_

_I thought they were all like Haruna. _

_But you two seem pretty close._

He didn't reply for a stretch of time—probably because she brought up his former pitcher.

She stared down at the blinking cursor, continuing to struggle over whether or not she should confront him about his injury. What she wanted to say was more appropriate to say aloud, but she had to make do, for now.

_Nao: I heard about your knee. _

_Take care of yourself, okay? _

It had taken her a few minutes to word her thoughts appropriately, and another minute to think about whether she should say it at all.

_Abe: I will. _

_I don't need you worrying about that._

_Nao: It was good to see you again._

This time, there was a huge delay in his response. Nao smirked, figuring he went back to his habit of ignoring her.

But then, her screen brightened, signaling a reply.

_Abe: Going back to training now._

A bemused grin slowly pulled at her lips. He was so difficult.

* * *

**End Notes:** Just out of curiosity: how many of you readers out there are actually into watching baseball? Or even playing it? What's your favorite aspect of the sport? Oofuri actually got me into it because it helped me to understand what was going on so I could follow along easier! My dad helps me fill in the gaps, too.


End file.
